The present invention relates to an interactive electronic game system and more particularly to an interactive electronic bingo game system wherein the system manages the game between two (2) or more players. Further, the invention relates to an interactive electronic game system wherein the winnings awarded to a winning player come from the wagers of the other players in the game and are distributed by the interactive electronic game system minus a house management fee. Further, the invention relates to an interactive electronic game system wherein in order to win, a player must interact with the game terminal he is playing in front of, by acknowledging that a number randomly selected by the game system matches the numbers that the player has selected. The winner is the first player to so acknowledges all of his selected numbers.
Bingo game machines, gaming systems and random number generating systems are well known in the art for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,913 to Hecht, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,737 to Frank, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,516 to Kolinsky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,810 to Richardson and PCT International Patent application number 98/20949.
The disadvantage with the above-mentioned prior art comprises the fact that, in some cases, the players are playing against the house, i.e. the management, operator, etc . . . , and not merely playing against each other. The systems mentioned above have an operator or house which may have a stake in who wins or loses the games. Further, the above art does not provide for an interactive game wherein a player has to physically interact with the player terminal in order to advance his game and eventually win.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide for an interactive electronic game system wherein the operator has no stake in who wins or loses the game.
It would further be advantageous to have an interactive electronic game system wherein the winnings may be awarded to the winner from a collection of the wagers from all the participants in the game, and the administration or management fees may be covered by an ante paid by the players for his participation in the game.
It would be further advantageous to provide for an interactive electronic game system wherein safeguards are in place to assure security and accountability for every play.
It would be further advantageous to provide for an interactive electronic game system wherein the players have to physically interact with the player terminal units in order to advance their game and eventually win.
Electronic games are becoming ever more popular. Bingo is a particular popular game which is played as follows. Traditionally, a player may have one or more cards showing three, four, five, etc . . . columns, each of which presents a selection of, for example, three, four, five or more numbers selected from B1-B15, I16-I30, N31-N45, G46-G60 and O61-O75 or 3 rows consisting of 5 numbers from a group of 1-90. However, any other number of rows or combination of rows may be used in the play of other games. A caller, usually a person associated with the organizer of the bingo game, draws numbers (i.e. balls) at random from a set of balls marked with the numbers from 1 to 75 or 1 to 90, or other range of numbers, and then calls the numbers. The players, upon hearing the numbers being called, mark the drawn numbers on their cards by apposing a chip or ink mark on the drawn numbers. In order to win, a player must be the first who has marked numbers which compose a five-number line which may be vertical, horizontal or diagonal or when the four corners are marked, or when the card is full, or when some other winning pattern or combination of numbers is matched.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided for an interactive electronic game system wherein the operator, i.e. the owner or the organizer of the game has no stakes in who wins or loses the bingo game. The operator may collect an entry (ante) for each card a player has chosen to play in each game, in order, for example, to cover overhead costs, administration costs, etc . . . When a player wins a bingo game, the player""s winnings may be collected from the wagers of all of the other participants in the game. Therefore as may be understood, in accordance with the present invention, at least two (2) active players may be needed in order for a game to begin. As may be understood, this means that the players are playing against each other and not against the interactive electronic game system itself, i.e. the players are not playing against the house. In order for substantial winnings to be awarded, a large number of players participating in a game may be required, or alternatively, the players may be wagering large sums. As may be further understood, the management or house, in order to operate the system, may not need to have a large pool of money ready in advance to cover payouts to the winners, as the winnings are directly related to the number of other participants in the game and to the amount wagered. The winnings may come from the participation of the players which have put up wager chips for the game, i.e. the winnings are determined by the number of participants, and by the amount each participant wagers in that particular play. This is a tremendous advantage for an operator, who need not have (any) money, or very little money, tied up in advance in order to cover payouts to the winners.
Accordingly, the present invention, in a general aspect, may provide for an interactive electronic game system comprising a central server unit, a random number generating unit connected to the central server unit, a player tracking unit connected to the central server unit and a plurality of player terminal units interconnected to each other and the central server unit, and connected to the player tracking unit.
In a further aspect, the present invention may provide for an interactive electronic game system, wherein the games to be played are bingo, Keno, Lotto, poker or any other such type games.
In a further aspect, the present invention may provide for an interactive electronic game system, wherein the random number generating unit may comprise a ball blower unit connected to the central unit. The ball blower unit may be configured and disposed so as to be visible to some, or all of the players which have anted up to play a game, the whole in order to create the atmosphere of a traditional, i.e. non electronic, bingo game. In accordance with yet a further aspect, the random number generating unit may be integrated to or form part of the central server unit, i.e. it may be an electronic random number generating unit. As may be understood, the interactive electronic game system of the present invention may be configured and disposed so as to, as much as possible, replace human intervention by the operator of the bingo game with a mechanical or electronic intervention.
In accordance with a general aspect, there is provided for an interactive electronic game system comprising:
two or more gaming machines each having display means for displaying images thereon and interaction means for a player to interact with the game system,
a central server unit connected to said gaming machines comprising game system control means and communication control means for controlling communications between said central server unit and said gaming machines,
a random number generating means connected to said central server unit, the control server unit being arranged to play a game in which two or more players select one or more sub-sets of indicia from a set of indicia,
said selected sub-set being displayed on the display means of a each player""s respective gaming machine,
said random number generating means generating a sequence of random indicia selected from said set of indicia, said control server unit displaying in turn each of said randomly generated indicia on the display screen of each said gaming machines,
wherein when a randomly generated indicia displayed on said display screen matches an indicia selected by said player, said player interactively acknowledge said match through the use of said interaction means,
and wherein a prize is awarded to the player who first interactively acknowledges the required number of matches.
In accordance with a further aspect, there is provided for an interactive electronic game system comprising:
a random number generating means,
a central server unit connected to said random number generating means,
at least two player terminal units connected to said central server unit,
wherein upon receiving a signal from at least one of said player terminals that a player wishes to play a game, said central server unit signals said random number generating means to generate random numbers which are displayed by said central server unit onto said player terminal units,
and wherein said players play against each other and not against the system.
In accordance with a general aspect, the game may be played as follows. Each player may be positioned in front of a player terminal unit, also known as gaming machine. The player terminal unit may be configured and disposed to allow a player to stand, or be seated, or to allow a wheel-chair bound player to play. The player terminals may further be configured and disposed in any known or desired manner. The player terminal unit may display one or more cards or screens, each of which cards or screens may show a subset of indicia selected from a set of indicia, i.e. the player may select a number of indicia from a set i.e. a larger set of indicia. Said set of indicia may for example comprise numbers, i.e. arabic numbers or roman numbers. However it is understood that the indicia may be any other kind of indicia, such as, for example, playing card (diamonds, clover, harts, spades), fruits, or any other symbol. The winner is the first player who fills a card from the randomly selected numbers or symbols or indicia generated by the random number generating unit (i.e. means). In the bingo variant of the game, the indicia may be numbers selected from 1 to 75 and, may, for example, be divided into a number of columns, for example, five columns may be as follows: B1-B15,I16-I30, N31-N45, G45-G60 and O61-O75. The winner may be the first player who fills a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line, the four corners of the card, or fills the entire card, of matches some other winning pattern or combination of spaces on the card as may be selected by the organizer of the game. In the examples shown herein, each card may consists of a three number selection from B1-B6, I16-I21, N31-N36, G46-G51 and O61-O66. However, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the example shown.
In accordance with the present invention, in order for a player to participate in the game, and eventually, in order to win the game, a player may be called to actively, physically interact with the player terminal unit. The player who is playing the game may not just look at the machine and let it play. If the bingo variant is being played, for example, when each ball is called, i.e. when each ball has been selected by the random number generating unit, it is then in turn, i.e. one at a time, displayed on the player terminal in front of the player. The number may appear in red, in any other pre-determined color, highlighted, etc . . . and if that number is also a number that is found on one of the playing cards selected by the player, a flashing light may appear beside said number on said playing card. The game system may not automatically match the drawn number, and the number which appears on the player""s player terminal. At this point, the player must recognize that one of his numbers from one of his playing cards has been drawn (i.e. selected, called, etc . . . ), and the player must acknowledge the drawn number by pressing the screen approximately in the area of the card(s) having the winning number. This acknowledgement may also be accomplished by pressing the xe2x80x9cDAUBxe2x80x9d button on the screen or the xe2x80x9cPLAY/DAUBxe2x80x9d button on the terminal. By pressing on one of those buttons, the player may acknowledge any winning number(s) in any card(s). In other words, the interactive electronic game system will not perform this acknowledgement function automatically for the player, and unless a player is alert and recognises the fact that one of his number has been drawn, the interactive electronic game system will not credit the player with the fact that one of his numbers has been called, and consequently, may loose his wager token. When a player has acknowledged that one of his numbers has been drawn, (i.e. has touched the screen at the appropriate place), a representation of a token which may have appeared above the card may be displaced to be beside the winning number. This whole step, i.e. recognition and acknowledgement by the player that one of his number has been drawn must be completed before the winner is declared, or else the player may forfeit this number. It is understood that the player terminal may comprise interaction means to allow the player to interact with the interactive electronic game system, and that such interaction means may comprise a touch screen, one or more touch buttons, a joy stick or any combination of these.
Once the interactive electronic game system has selected all the winning numbers of a player""s card, i.e. there is a winning card, the terminal may advise that player (or players) through a message, for example a flashing sign, a flashing light, etc . . . after which the player must recognised that he has won, and (promptly) acknowledge that he has won by pressing anywhere on the screen or on the physical xe2x80x9cPLAY/DAUBxe2x80x9d button on the terminal. The player therefore may have a limited time to declare himself the winner before the next ball is drawn, and failure to acknowledge his winning hand before the drawing of the next ball may mean that the player(s) in question may forfeit the victory. The interactive electronic game system may be configured such that the balls may be drawn, for example, every two (2) seconds, meaning that a player has a two (2) second window opportunity to acknowledge a winning ball and eventually a winning game. These and other objects will be made manifest when considering the following detailed specification when taken in conjunction with the appended drawing figures.